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December 9, 2009

Masters Swimming and Doctors Appointments

The day started off with a completely new experience: Jesse wakes me up at 5:30am saying, “I’m sorry, babe, you asked me to wake you up. Do you still want to come with me to Masters?” I am not a morning person, but early morning activities seem so awesomely extreme, that I tend to commit when I shouldn’t. I could have gotten out of it, but in the end, the allure of the unknown won out.

I tell you what, there is no nicer group of women than a locker room full of masters swimmers who have just finished their morning workout. I forgot a towel (of course) and someone loaned me her’s, before she even used it! Everyone was chatty and friendly and at peace with the world.

As we were driving home, the sun was rising over the butte. Jesse and I could see our breath in the car and we were waiting impatiently for the heat to start working, and suddenly he blurts out, “I own you day! The sun hasn’t even come up yet and we are done with workout #1!” I laughed and laughed. It was great, feeling ahead of the day. Too bad I won’t be repeating that experience any time soon. Great place to visit but wouldn’t [be able] to live there.

Which brings me to the other main events of the day which were two doctors visits: a gyno (which I need not expand upon,) and a follow up appointment with my orthopedist, Dr. Stan James. I saw him initially one week ago for a sore hip that’s been keeping me off my feet for nearly three weeks now. Last week the whole right side of my body was so sore, nothing could be singled out. I could hardly walk for some strange reason. After an inconclusive MRI and a week of anti-inflammatories and rest, things calmed down enough to narrow the search, and it appears now that I am an idiot.

Those weren’t exactly his words, but he reminded me of the same lesson Masters swimming taught me. I gravitate towards exciting new athletic challenges, and I (mistakenly) think of myself as a very capable, versatile athlete. This was never a problem until recently. But as Dr. James reminded me, I’m getting “older” and as a specialized athlete, I’m now very fine tuned. Basically, the sharper the pencil the easier it breaks. It’s too late to be experimenting with brand new stuff.

Such as, wait for it…the “whole new extreme abs routine” that I started in late October. Turns out those abs that were so sore I couldn’t get out of bed were actually pulled, and my aching back was actually strained, and the crooked pelvis that resulted did not like running 80 miles a week that way.

Luckily, nothing is broken, and most of its healed now, but I learned a big lesson today. Stick with what I know and perfect that. Save the ab-athon (and the masters swimming) for next decade.

One comment on “Masters Swimming and Doctors Appointments”

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